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Skoda UK confirms Mikkelsen for Rallye Monte Carlo

"It will be all new for me"

By Franck Drui

16 December 2010 - 21:21

Škoda UK Motorsport will begin its 2011 Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) campaign on the Rallye Monte Carlo (19-22 January), when it enters a Fabia S2000 for Andreas Mikkelsen and co-driver Ola Fløene.

First run in 1911, the centenary edition of the Rallye Monte Carlo attracted over 300 applications for the 120 starting positions. With Škoda Motorsport celebrating its 110th anniversary in 2011, no fewer than 10 Fabia S2000s appear on the confirmed entry list. In addition to the one driven by Andreas, others will be piloted by the 2010 and 2008 IRC Champions, Juho Hänninen and Nicolas Vouilloz, the 2010 IRC runner-up, Jan Kopecký, the driver with the most IRC rally wins, Freddy Loix and former F1 driver Alex Caffi.

With its unpredictable and changeable weather conditions, Rallye Monte Carlo is regarded as one of the most difficult events in motorsport. Whilst many of the competing drivers have enormous experience of the terrain, this will be Andreas’ first attempt at the classic event. As part of his preparation, he has sought advice from the 2006 Rallye Monte Carlo winner, Marcus Grönholm, who has been his driver coach for the last two years and who has been instrumental in developing the driving technique Andreas employs today.

Andreas Mikkelsen: “I’ve never done Rallye Monte Carlo, so it will be all new for me. It’s a very famous event, but it’s also the toughest in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge calendar because you have asphalt, snow, ice and gravel – and sometimes all four in the same stage.

“The challenge for me will be to get around and reach the finish. I don’t have a top three or a top five result in mind, I just want to get around the route without making a mistake and see what happens. I think if we can achieve that, then the result will follow and hopefully we can leave Monte Carlo with some points on the table – which is very important at the start of the season.

“I’ve spoken to Marcus about Monte Carlo, because he has won it and knows the event very well. It’s a rally he doesn’t really like because it’s so unpredictable and quite scary, but his advice has been invaluable in the past and I’m sure it will be so now.

“I’m excited about making my Rallye Monte Carlo debut and I’m really looking forward to the year ahead. To be in a top car and with a top team behind me has never happened before, and we have a really good test schedule planned so the amount of driving I will do in 2011 will help me a lot. Every aspect we have everything one hundred percent and I’m sure we can be up there challenging for rally wins. I think it should be a great year.”

While January’s Rallye Monte Carlo will be Andreas’ next competitive outing, he finished 2010 off in style by winning the Super 2000 class in a Škoda Rally Team Italia Fabia S2000 at the Bologna Rallysprint (December 11-12), which was part of the Bologna Motor Show; defeating Simone Campedelli (Peugeot 207 S2000) in the final. The result rounded off a superb hat-trick of class wins for Andreas and Škoda, after he’d won the SWRC category on Wales Rally GB (November 11-14) and the WRC class on the Solberg Extreme MotorShow in Oslo (November 27).